Posts tagged: arts

On Friday September 23rd 2011, locals and visitors across the island of Ireland will enjoy the unique experience of Culture Night, a free night of entertainment, discovery and adventure taking place in a record 28 towns, cities, counties and islands in Ireland. Museums, galleries, churches, historic houses, artists’ studios and cultural centres will open their doors late into the evening welcoming people of all ages to taste and sample their cultural delights for free on the evening.

With further expansion this year and the participation of a record 157 cultural organisations in Dublin alone, organisers Temple Bar Cultural Trust say 2011, the 6th year of Culture Night, will mark the largest ever Culture Night in Ireland to date and brings their vision of for an All-Ireland Culture Night that bit closer.

Bring the children, catch up with friends, meet new people, participate, interact and experience the exhilaration of free entry, live performances, workshops, tours, talks, drama, dance and a whole range of other creative activities for free! Culture Night brings together a very unique and diverse audience who all share a desire to explore and enjoy culture.

Last year Dublin saw over 150,000 people in the City of Dublin for Culture Night and this year thousands more are expected to descend on Culture Night with people travelling from far and wide to experience the excitement in their preferred area.

And remember, everything that’s open on Culture Night will be there when you visit the next time, and the next time…so why not make a habit of it!

The complete Culture Night programme is available online from launch day on August 17th at www.culturenight.ie

Follow Culture Night

Tweeting about Culture Night? Use the hashtag #culturenight along side your county/region like this #culturenight #galway

Today, Thursday May 12th, a new phase at Temple Bar Gallery + Studioswas ushered in by Jimmy Deenihan TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. A new look website and visual identity and details of an ambitious artistic programme for 2011 – 2012 were unveiled to a significant gathering from the arts and business communities in Temple Bar.

Artist Rhona Byrne created a new, site specific sculptural installation entitled ‘An Internal Other‘, a large inflatable sculpture made out of transparent pink plastic. This monumental work was made specially for the launch and is situated over four floors of the TBG+S building, snaking through the large central atrium vent and outside into Temple Bar.

Established in 1983 by a group of artists, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios has played an important role in Ireland’s visual arts infrastructure for 28 years now. Today, with a new management team, new look identity and website and an ambitious new artistic programme for 2011/2012 Temple Bar Gallery + Studios has put last year’s 35.5% Arts Council funding cut behind them and emerged with a new confidence and vigour. A capital grant from the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism in 2010 allowed for redevelopment works for the gallery.

Speaking at the re-launch this afternoon, Minister Deenihan said “Temple Bar Gallery + Studios has played a central role in the cultural life of Dublin since it was first established in 1983. It is both encouraging and inspiring to see this organisation moving forward with a new vision and a determination to consolidate its critical position in the visual arts. It seems a particularly apt time, as this year marks the 20th anniversary of the development of Temple Bar.”

Enjoying the launch at TBG&S this afternoon. Image courtesy of TBG&S

“This is a very positive moment for TBG+S. We are pleased to present the fruits of the energy and hard work of the last year to you, our important stakeholders and supporters. Our vision is to continue to develop and grow TBG+S, as a national arts organisation in providing subsidised artists’ studios and a vibrant and relevant contemporary exhibitions’ programme. We have an ambitious programme of activities planned for 2011/2012 including solo exhibitions of new work by Irish artists David Beattie, Martin Healy and Liam Callaghan. In the year ahead, we look forward to building-up a strong community of support for TBG+S, developing new audiences for our work and opening our doors to possible new collaborations” said Claire Power, Head, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios.

Temple Bar Gallery + Studios comprises 30 studios for professional working artists and curators and a contemporary art gallery. Its mission is to provide subsidised work spaces to artists, to present progressive and ambitious work by contemporary Irish and International visual artists and to promote the knowledge and mediation of contemporary visual art.

‘A picture is worth a thousand words – particularly if you can’t read…’

Harry Harshfield

Ok, so little did I think my first Thursday of April would plan out the way it did. I rushed home from school to dawn my alter ego and enjoy the galleries of Temple Bar for the first time. Being told – SCENEnotHERD members Breffni, Dearbhla and Jenn – that we would get the chance to interview the people of the galleries along the way on camera sounds nice doesn’t it, but with no preparation and little time it felt like being put in the deep end! It was quite daunting and could only lead to a few hiccups along the way. I felt it went considerably well. (So don’t judge) I caught the end of the Uilleann pipers in No Grants Gallery and when told there were two songs left to go I was disappointed that they combined them as it was obvious people were getting in to the song, tapping away merrily. But never the less it was an enjoyable performance.

We meander around the galleries and our first stop was Project Arts Centreto meet with Tessa Giblin the curator of the ‘Things- exhibition’. We got to experience it for ourselves going through the plinths. I had heard about the exhibition, but did not understand how it worked. Each plinth had a speaker inside with music pumping out all having the word ‘Thing’ in the lyrics. I loved the idea behind it, giving the surroundings a voice? It was defiantly interesting and I went back to check it out.

Getting back to the No Grants Gallery where we had a look around at the exhibition and I got a chance to talk to Gay McKeown, CEO of Na Piobairi Uilleann, telling me all about uilleann pipes and their origin. I didn’t know too much about them and it was nice to hear the history behind them. I had never known that an uilleann pipe is broken down into pieces and each piece takes time to learn. After mastering each step it’s put together and its time to learn music notes.

With not enough time to hang around we squeezed in a chat with Damien Dempsey where I made a fool of myself asking how long he has been playing the uilleann pipes! Quite embarrassing but I think he took it with a pinch of salt or at least I hope so. There was some sandwiches floating around, me and Dearbla made sure to get our hands on some.

When we got outside we got talking to Leo Enright- 50 year’s space organiser, chatting about Yuri night events on Tuesday. It sounded interesting and Breffini was asked to film the action.

Sauntering down to The Exchange where it was packed we squeezed our way through to take a glimpse. Aíne (another SCENEnotHERD member) was helping out, keeping busy and over all doing a good job! The exhibit was interesting and it was nice to see what the work involved.

We left forClyne Gallery next door and where we had to wait around (awkwardly) to be let in while being filmed. When we did get in it was so quaint and small. There didn’t seem to be much of a buzz but there was an interesting piece – I wish I knew the name of it but basically it was rats stuck in traps growing in size. Personally I loved it but it wasn’t exactly Dearbhlas cup of tea. :S ha

Down to Monster Truck we went but unfortunately it was jammers so we went next door to the Temple Bar Gallery & Studios instead. Getting in was not too much of a struggle so we had a look at the exhibition which proved to be interesting. It wasn’t your typical experience with a lot of unusual art work – but it was fascinating. The alien and paper stack were my favourites they contrasted nicely. We spoke to Rayne Booth, the curator there, you’ll see more on the film to be posted by Breffni shortly!

The Graphic Studio Gallery was hidden away. Upon getting there it looked as if it were closed but after a while we were let in as it was locked because of rif-raf going around, welcomed in there was some small eggs kept aside for visitors. I loved the prints in their stands and there was a wide range to browse through. We said our goodbyes and were on our way to the Gallery of Photography where we stood at reception talking to Darragh there about the exhibition.

We live in interesting times. Web technologies such as YouTube, blogging, podcasting and social media have unleashed a wealth of creative material online. The Arts Council is pleased to bring together national and international experts from the arts, social media and broadcasting in this one day working seminar to explore the ways in which artists and the public are adapting and adopting new ways of producing, presenting and promoting the arts.

This seminar is open to artists, organisations and policy makers interested in the potential that new media has on the way in which they work, and in the way it can attract and broaden audiences.